
{"id":25729,"date":"2012-05-10T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=25729"},"modified":"2012-05-09T16:09:48","modified_gmt":"2012-05-09T20:09:48","slug":"with-may-comes-new-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/05\/10\/with-may-comes-new-hopes\/","title":{"rendered":"With May comes new hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Eddy Landreth<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>April was the cruelest month so far for the 2012 North Carolina baseball team.<\/p>\n<p>The month proved to be a wasteland for Carolina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offense, with images of Tar Heel batters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 former selves shattered by a lack of production.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20318\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20318\" style=\"width: 100px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/08\/18\/support-the-players-by-filling-kenan-stadium\/landreth-mug-30\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-20318\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"landreth-mug\" width=\"100\" height=\"134\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1-84x113.jpg 84w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1-74x100.jpg 74w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20318\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eddy Landreth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re living right on the edge,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d coach Mike Fox said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face it. That is just the way this team is. This team drives me crazy. There is just a small margin of error of us winning or losing, or putting ourselves in position to either score a run or not score a run. We have to make pitches and make plays.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Every at-bat we have seems to be a crucial one,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Fox said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help when guys aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t swinging it well. That is even added pressure. So that is just the way we are. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a pitching and defense team. We really are.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Fox said this just after star third baseman Colin Moran returned to the lineup. Moran missed 21 days with a broken hand. A hardwood door got in his way.<\/p>\n<p>Doors can be funny that way.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I learned from the injury not to do it again,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Moran said.<\/p>\n<p>His presence gave the Tar Heels immediate hope for a turnaround offensively. In his first game back, Moran drove in both runs in a 2-0 victory against Winthrop.<\/p>\n<p>One of the runs batted in from Moran came on a towering homerun over the right-field fence. He looked the way he has since becoming a freshman All-American a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think he is one of those guys who could roll out of bed and hit,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Fox said.<\/p>\n<p>The team responded to Moran\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presence and Fox\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concern by sweeping Boston College in a three-game series this past weekend. The Tar Heels, ranked seventh in the coaches\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 poll and eighth in the writers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 poll, improved to 34-14.<\/p>\n<p>The next two games were a 4-2 win against UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday and a game Wednesday in Greenville against East Carolina after The Citizen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s press time. The Tar Heels defeated the Pirates 1-0 in 10 innings before the exam break in one of the most exciting games this season.<\/p>\n<p>Against Boston College, Carolina collected 36 hits in three days, the most in any series this year. Some of the most important hits came after a four-and-a-half hour rain delay on Saturday in a 6-5 come-from-behind victory.<\/p>\n<p>One bright spot for this team is the sudden emergence of left-handed pitcher Hobbs Johnson in the weekend rotation. Johnson was named the ACC pitcher of the week on Monday after he earned victories against Winthrop on May 2 and BC on May 6.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If there is a story on our team this year besides Colin breaking his hand, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hobbs Johnson,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Fox said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can say it because all the scouts know it: He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s draft eligible. He just turned 21. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got people interested in him at that level, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pitched how many innings here \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 50? I could lose that boy and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pitched 50 innings.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to because I told him I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d kill him if he signed. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left-handed, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a good live arm. He might be our best prospect at the next level because of that. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got three above-average pitches he throws for strikes. I love to see kids like that. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect it. You watch him and you say, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThis kid is not going to make it; he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just not going to make it.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 All of sudden he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s out there throwing for you on the weekend. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cool.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Exams have ended, and it is all baseball now.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We had a meeting the other day and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s turn the page to May,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Fox said. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Carolina has had expectations in May. May is our month. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s remember that. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done well in May in the past. People expect us to do well. We expect ourselves to do well. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see what happens.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is the most fun time of the year,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Fox said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is when you can have some fun together. You can practice whenever you want. We can go eat as a team. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to travel. We got some places to go.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Fox and his players are hoping Omaha, Neb., will be the final trip of the year. In five of the last six years, the end has come there at the College World Series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April was the cruelest month so far for the 2012 North Carolina baseball team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":20318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[431],"class_list":["post-25729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25729"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25737,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25729\/revisions\/25737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}